Some Bible scholars claim that predictive prophecy does not exist. . . . [For example, that no prophet leaped across the centuries and foresaw the specific person Jesus of Nazareth.]
Contrary to that theory of men, the prophets themselves have unequivocally spoken. Jacob, Nephi's brother, wrote: "We knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming: and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us . . . none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ." (Jacob 4:4; 7:11.)[Abinadi and Nephi, son of Helaman, made similar statements. See Mosiah 13:33 and Hel. 8:13-22.] In the Jerusalem Temple courtyard Peter boldly bore witness that "all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. . . ." (Acts 3:24.)
The scriptures teach that one of the significant and essential roles of a prophet is to testify of the Lord Jesus Christ; in fact, John wrote that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19:10.) In other words, testifying of Jesus is what prophecy is all about. There is no greater witness that the prophets could proclaim than that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.
In fact, Joseph Smith was asked, "What are the fundamental principles of your religion?" He answered: "The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 121.)
The testimony of Jesus is, of course, available to all the saints - through the gift of the Holy Ghost. As Moses exclaimed, " . . . would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" (Num. 11:29.)
Enoch was one of the privileged seers who saw the whole panorama of history from beginning to end: "Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, even in the flesh; and his soul rejoiced, saying: The Righteous is lifted up, and the Lamb is slain from the foundation of the world . . . and he looked and beheld the Son of Man lifted up on the cross, after the manner of men. . . . And Enoch beheld the Son of Man ascend up unto the Father. . . . And it came to pass that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years." (Moses 7:47, 55, 59, 65.)
Noah preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to a corrupted world and warned them that rejection would be answered with a cataclysm unparalleled in history. (See Moses 8:24.) The people rejected more than Noah and his prediction of dramatic meteorological changes; they rejected Christ, their only hope for salvation.
Abraham is another of those who learned directly from Jehovah. (See Abr. 3:11.) Later in life Abraham was supremely tested when the Lord required him to take his promised son, Isaac, and offer him up as a sacrifice. . . . The patriarch came to understand that his trial was "a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son." (Jacob 4:5.) That Eternal Sacrifice was the most glorious message the world had ever heard. Said Jesus to Jews in the inner court of the Temple, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." (John 8:56; see also Hel. 8:17.)
Joseph was Abraham's great-grandson, and he perpetuated his ancestors' trust in the promises of the Lord concerning their seed. Joseph knew that the Messiah would come, as prophesied, in the meridian of time but also in the fulness of time. (See JST Gen. 50:25, and 2 Ne. 3:5.)
After the Israelites' deliverance from the Egyptian armies at the Red Sea, Moses sang these words in a song of praise and triumph: "The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God." (Ex. 15:2.)
The word "salvation" in Hebrew is Yeshua, . . . commonly translated [in EnglishT as the name "Jesus." Moses knew Christ personally. [He saw God face to face. (Moses 1:1-2.)T Moses recorded a prophecy of the Messiah to come: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." (Deut. 18:15.) Fulfillment of that prophecy, the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, is recorded in 3 Ne. 20:23-24 and in Acts 3:22-23.
Some of the most jubilant exclamations of prophecy in all of scripture about the coming of the Messiah are found in the writings of Isaiah: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end." (Isa. 9:6-7.)
Possibly the most articulate and poig-nant of all prophetic descriptions of the coming Messiah is that recorded in Isaiah 53. We reverently ponder the combined meaning of all the adjectives Isaiah used to describe Him: stricken, smitten, afflicted, wounded, bruised and oppressed. The prophet defied the later popular expectation of a bigger-than-life political deliverer when he wrote that the Messiah would be " . . . cut off out of the land of the living." (Isa. 53:8.)
